The Nobel Prize winner Wislawa Szymborska said in her Nobel Lecture in 1996
on the subject of 'inspiration', 'that it is not the exclusive privilege of
poets or artists generally. There is, has been, and will always be a certain
group of people whom inspiration visits.' However, she goes on to say that
'Whatever inspiration is, it's born from a continuous "I don't know."'
It seems to me therefore, poets differ in this respect and through the form
(the poem) question 'all possibilities', where as philosophers set ideals as
'concrete.' Many philosophers come from various social, political, religious
sciences, often psychoanalytical (as in the case of Clarissa Pinkola Estes).
As she says 'this informs her work.' Poets, it seems, will regard the
master/female pioneers before any other anthropology/anthropometry.
So, it has been my experience recently that students who study philosophy
eg. are so enthused/stimulated by the "philosphers" that they take them for
the archetypes of knowledge, esp. those intangibles like truth, justice,
love, hope, hate etc. When they choose to blend their
inspiration/stimulation into poetry, it comes out as philosophy. In other
words they 'tell' rather than 'show.' I have a tendency to say, 'do poets
write, see nothing?'
It remains a challenge, certainly, to get them to read "poetry."
HH
>From: "Ralph Wessman" <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: [log in to unmask]
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Re: art and philosophy (was: Poetics, Les Murray clarification)
>Date: Mon, 31 Jul 2000 10:28:08 +1000
>
>What did Peter Porter say in "Salt"? "... the Australians see me almost as
>an ideas poet, and I always have to stress firmly that poets are not
>philosophers. I detest philosophy. I think philosophy as such is so
>codified that it is unworthy of the attention of an intelligent person. And
>that therefore what poets do is think. Thinking and philosophy don't seem
>to me to be the same thing at all. "
>
>
>
> >>Philosophy is major poetry.
>
> >Er - I'd say Tractatus might qualify. Bits of The Gay Science. Some of
> >more extreme passages of EM Cioran - and no doubt others
>
> >so I'm not against the idea.
>
> >But I think that on the whole, that is manifestly not the case. I rather
> >incline to Baudelaire's comment: that "poetry must be a debacle of the
> >intellect".
>
>
>
>
>
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